North Pole shift towards Russia alarms scientists, potentially disrupting smartphone accuracy

The magnetic North Pole has been moving closer to the largest country in the world since the early nineteenth century

Scientists are grappling with the magnetic North Pole’s continued drift towards Russia, a phenomenon that could impact smartphone navigation accuracy. Unlike the geographical North Pole, the magnetic North Pole is the point to which a compass needle aligns and doesn’t remain in a fixed position, shifting due to magnetic activity beneath the Earth's crust.

Since the early 1800s, the magnetic North Pole has gradually shifted closer to Russia, yet recent changes are puzzling scientists worldwide. The World Magnetic Model recently revealed that the pole's movement, driven by churning molten iron beneath the Earth, has slowed to approximately 15 miles per year—down by around 10 miles compared to its speed in 2020.

"The magnetic pole has been moving very slowly around Canada for many centuries since the 1500s," said Dr. Ciarán Beggan from the British Geological Survey in a statement to the *Daily Mail*. "In the past 20 years, it accelerated north towards Siberia, increasing speed every year until about five years ago, when it suddenly decelerated from 50 to 40km per year."

"This is behaviour we've not observed ever before. It makes forecasting magnetic field change more difficult," Dr. Beggan added, noting that this unpredictable movement contrasts with the south pole’s comparatively slow drift. "We don't know really why there's such differences between the hemispheres."